Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 11 Paid Members Report Share Posted June 11 yeah, start times not favourable: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 11 Author Paid Members Report Share Posted June 11 It appears Joanna’s literally trained her arse off. She’s no Norma Dumont, that’s for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 11 Paid Members Report Share Posted June 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 11 Author Paid Members Report Share Posted June 11 Glover fat shaming Bisping 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 11 Paid Members Report Share Posted June 11 gotta love the bloke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panhead Posted June 12 Report Share Posted June 12 What a fight. Holy shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Silky Kisser Posted June 12 Paid Members Report Share Posted June 12 (edited) I felt pretty disinterested in this card and fully expected to fast forward through most of it with a coffee this morning but I was hooked from the first prelim onward. A real sleeper of a show with some incredible fights throughout. The main event was a proper rollercoaster. Glover was 28 seconds away from a win on the cards and I was gutted for him. Jiri is all kinds of Fun though. Both guys seemed to make a lot of errors throughout but that just made it more chaotic and enjoyable. Best 205lb title fight for a long time. Thought Santos was a bit hard done by and the 49-46 score for Shevchenko was a head scratcher. Scored it 3 rounds for Santos myself but one of the rounds were very close so I could see Valentina a nicking 3 rounds. 49-46 though? Fucks sakes. Weili just looked too much for Joanna from the off. The 2 years out couldn't have helped but Weili just looked a different class. Another fun fight whilst it lasted. Loads of great stuff on the lower card and Prelims. I thought the crowd were really great all night too. Super respectful. The show really overdelivered. Edited June 12 by Silky Kisser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 12 Author Paid Members Report Share Posted June 12 (edited) What a fucking fight! I know everyone loved Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns but the bar for FOTY has been reset for me. Glover vs Jiri is now the fight to beat and if there’s a better one to come than this in the next 6 months then we’re really in for something special. Because this was amazing. Jiri came out with the gold as most were predicting but he had to go through hell to get it. Old man Glover made him earn every bit of it. So many twists and turns and both had their moments as the hammer and the nail. You could see how either of these guys could make a mistake and be beaten, either by each other or the next challenger. But that feeling that it could end any second just added to the drama of the fight. Then to top it off, deep into the 5th round with Glover well on his way to victory… Jiri pulls that out. Of all the ways you could’ve seen this fight going, I don’t think anyone was predicting Jiri Prochazka by submission. That was the least likely outcome of them all but of course a barmy fight like this would end in just as barmy fashion. Incredible stuff. And I know it’s hardly been kept quite but, again, Glover’s 42 years old! What a trooper. Last thing he needs at this stage of his career is a war like this but he seems set on carrying on so he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. What’s next then? Do they go straight to Jiri vs Glover 2? Or do we see Jiri vs Jan now? I’ve seen Glover’s already called for the rematch on Twitter. All the keyboard Greg Jackson’s are telling him why he doesn’t deserve it and where he went wrong but I wouldn’t be at all against just running it back. Sod it. I like Jan Blachowicz but it’s not like he’s head and shoulders the clear next in line. He’s only one fight removed from losing the belt to Glover and his win over Rakic ended because of an injury. I’m generally not a fan of immediate rematches but I’d be cool with this one. Regardless, what a fight. Definitely my FOTY so far. Shevchenko vs Santos was very interesting. I was saying in the opening post that I felt like Santos was a more live underdog than people were giving her credit for but this was still closer than even I expected. When it was over I genuinely didn’t know which way I thought the decision was going. Seeing some cries of robbery today but I didn’t think it’d have been outrageous whichever way the judges went. The 49-46 for Val was a bit much though. Felt like that was way harsh on Santos. But I don’t know. I’d have to rewatch it and score it properly but I certainly didn’t have an issue with Shevchenko winning. Bloody hell though. Finally someone gives her a fight! Even in defeat here, Santos’ stock only went up. And at least there’s something to work with now in the title picture. For the longest time the Flyweight division has just been a Shevchenko feeding frenzy where she’s just crushed the next poor victim every few months. At least now the inevitable Shevchenko vs Santos 2 fight is gonna have some flavour to it. It was weird seeing Shevchenko look human for once. We haven’t seen that since she faced Amanda Nunes. The Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk rematch was fun while it lasted but Zhang was just a step ahead throughout this time. The finish was brutal too. Not to take away from Zhang because she looked great in her own right and deserves the credit for how she fought. But Joanna’s 2 year layoff showed here for me and I think her retiring after the fight was part of it as well. I remember after their first fight, during Joanna’s time away, she was hinting at possibly calling it a day and she said again after the loss here that she’d considered it before committing to the comeback. I think it was a ‘one last run’ thing where she’d go for one more title but if she lost before that it would be over. I get that motivation but when a fighter’s already sort of got one foot out the door, it’s often a recipe for what we saw last night. The way she was talking post-fight about wanting to become a mum and having a new dream home or something that she’s barely been in yet, it just sounds like she’s been mentally burnt out for a while. And if the 2 years away didn’t rejuvenate her, it’s not likely anything will. She’s done 20 years and had 81 fights between MMA, Kickboxing and amateur Muay Thai according to her Wiki page. Then you factor in all the training camps, the countless rounds of sparring, the weight cuts etc. Listening to her last night, it sounds like she’s just finally got fighting out of her system. Mid 30s and after so many miles on the clock, she’s had a hell of a run. What a career. Ronda Rousey gets all the credit for putting women’s MMA on the big stage and I get that. Without her, who knows when the women would’ve been brought into the UFC? But while Ronda brought the buzz and big fight drama and all that, Joanna was the Strawweight champ at the same time and in terms of what actually went on in the cage, she’s the one who really set the bar for me in when it comes to skill. Ronda’s run was a blast at the time but while she was running through opponents with armbars in 20 seconds and stuff, Joanna was putting on striking masterclasses and dicing fuckers up like we’d never seen before from the women. She was ace. She’s been difficult to like at times but purely bell to bell, she’s probably been my favourite female fighter to watch in the sport’s history. Definite future Hall Of Famer. She’s got to be a lock to go in both for the first Zhang fight and as an individual induction. I’m guessing we’ll see Zhang get another title shot now? I’m not against that. Let’s see if she can drag something watchable out of Carla Esparza. Kind of feel bad for Marina Rodriguez though, I thought she’d be next in line but after this knockout, Zhang will likely get the shot. Maybe do Marina Rodriguez vs Rose Namajunas in the meantime? Jake Matthews vs Andre Fialho was wild. Fuck’s sake though. I was loving the little run Fialho’s been putting together and here comes Matthews to ruin it. Matthews looked great, to be fair. Probably the best he’s ever looked in the UFC. Which surprised me a bit because he’d been inactive for over a year coming in and Fialho’s been on a roll lately and was coming in with momentum. Matthews looked sharp though. Just goes to show, you really never know with these layoffs. People assume it’s a bad thing and ring rust will set in and so on. But it really is a case by case thing. All depends what the fighter is doing in their down time. If they’re getting out of shape and partying and stuff then yeah, it’s bad. But we’ve seen with other fighters that sometimes the time away is much needed and they get to work on their overall game without the stress of a full fight camp, plus heal up and give their brain a rest. Fialho’s been the polar opposite. This was his 4th fight in 6 months. I like that he wants to stay active but maybe he’s been too active. He’ll be back. Probably next month or something the nutter. He’s always gonna be fun to watch but if you fight like him and you’re in there every other month, you’re gonna get caught eventually. That second round it was like Matthews couldn’t miss. He was tagging Fialho again and again until he decked him. Jack Della Maddalena continues to impress. Looked great in his UFC debut, scoring a quick and clean first round finish. He goes in with Emeev last night, a veteran of 25 fights and a man who hasn’t been stopped in the UFC… And Maddalena gets him out of there in 2:32! Even quicker than his debut. Really like the look of Maddalena. 12-2 now, 11 finishes and his 2 losses were his first 2 fights. Still relatively early days but I’ve got a good feeling about him. I honestly think he might go on to be the best fighter to come out of Australia since Whittaker and Volkanovski. Like I said, long way to go still and we’ll see how he does as he goes up in levels. But he’s looked the real deal so far. And although Emeev isn’t elite, he’s a tough and experienced guy and nobody just rolls over him like this. Josh Culibao vs Seung Woo Choi was way better than I imagined it would be. It wasn’t like I thought it’d be shite or anything but it was just one of those card fillers to me that I never had much of an opinion on one way or another. Really fun scrap though. The first round especially was one of my favourite things on the card. Then Culibao had the big knockdown in the second and Choi going for the choke in the third. It really surpassed my expectations. If you skipped this fight, and I understand why you might’ve, it’s worth going back and watching. Could Maheshate have had a better Octagon debut? Comes in and does this in a minute and change… Shades of Paul Daley vs Scott Smith or Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler 1. Nasty KO. It’s amazing what a big intro can do. In 1:14 of action, I went from not knowing who this guy was and not really caring to suddenly being all in for his next fight. Of course the opposition here wasn’t exactly stellar and he’ll get tougher tests going forward but what a first impression. And if you didn’t catch the Fight Pass bit, Silvana Gomez Juarez scored a crushing first round KO against Na Liang. Look at this… Jaysus. Juarez is probably never going too far and her grappling isn’t much good from what I’ve seen. But she’s gonna provide fireworks whenever she’s in with women who wanna stand and trade. Even her previous fight, which she lost by submission, she dropped her opponent just before that. For a Strawweight, she packs a punch. Fantastic show. Pretty much everything delivered and there are so many talking points coming out of it. The main event for me is gonna go down as an all time classic. Shev finally got given a run for her money and might’ve even been fortunate to leave with the gold. Zhang and Joanna picked up where they left off and Joanna’s retirement was a big moment. On top of that we got some mad finishes and a stunning debut from Maheshate. It didn’t look like a mega stacked PPV going but for me it actually overdelivered. Unbelievable. Edited June 12 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted June 12 Moderators Report Share Posted June 12 1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said: Maheshate We talm bout mahes tate b? Beast of a pair of titties on her Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 12 Author Paid Members Report Share Posted June 12 “We talm bout mahes tate b? Beast of a pair of titties on her”… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 12 Paid Members Report Share Posted June 12 fight for the fight that was probably the best card of the year, sensational stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 12 Author Paid Members Report Share Posted June 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted June 12 Report Share Posted June 12 Yes, that was a proper classic main event. At the end of Round 2, when Glover cut open above the eye with the elbows, when the buzzer sounded I stood up in excitement. Dont think Ive ever really done that before. Just like most of those in the crowd, I was fully caught up in the moment. In terms of the actual fight, I genuinely dont think you could script something as perfect as it was. It was straight out of a Rocky movie. Heavy bombs being thrown on the feet, tremendous ground action with plenty of potential fight ending ground and pound, along with numerous dangerous submission attempts and reversals. The fact that Glover is 42 years old, and one of the last remaining 'old guard' (as someone in their late 30's, I have a soft spot for all these top level old school guys), I was rooting for him big time, which made the fight even greater to watch. A proper Balboa performance. The only thing to make this greater would have been Glover hitting maybe 2 more clean strikes at the start of R5, which would have stopped Jiri. The decision to go for the choke will be something that haunts Glover Id assume. Outstanding fight, mind, and when it gets as good as this, it just reminds you of why we all watch. Just fast fowarded the Shevchenko/Santos fight again. R1 is clearly Santos, as it R3 (which makes the 4-1 scoring a bit strange). R2 is the round when Santos has control for most of it in Shev's full guard, but doesnt nothing of note with it, and eventually gets stood up. The only thing between Santos having the title and not right now is probably 3-5 decent ground strikes when in Shev's full guard in this round. Had she been even slightly more aggressive, then the the 47-48 score for Shev would have been reversed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirdobbo89 Posted June 12 Report Share Posted June 12 The last three fights on this main card were fantastic. Glover deserves all the credit in the world for not just staying in the fight, but winning the fight on the cards until the choke. I thought he'd get steamrolled by Jiri and I'm glad I was wrong. Just an absolute batshit, utterly barmy fight. I'd been spoilered on the main event before watching and still found myself in disbelief mid fight thinking how does Jiri actually win this? Glover has only got one or two fights left in him I'd assume, I'm not sure who's next in line but you could sell a rematch easy with the narrative that Glover was up on the cards. I'd love to see them have another. Don't think Shevchenko won that fight. Santos's grappling was a step ahead. Bizarre to see Shevchenko look normal, the headbutt/eye swelling helped her out a bit in the later rounds. It was never 49-46 in a month of Sundays. Weili/Jedrzejczyk was another barmy fight while it lasted. Probably the right decision to hang them up now before she falls further down the chain. Assuming and also hoping that Weili decimates Esparza. I did watch the rest of the main card and the main prelims but I'm shot to pieces with those last three fights I can't remember what even happened. Brilliant show, epic main event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 13 Paid Members Report Share Posted June 13 That main event will go down as one of my favorite fights ever. I like it when MMA is chaotic and unorthodox and this fight was a perfect example of that. It wasn't two guys stood there having a decent level kickboxing fight, it was wild and all over the place, I don't know if a title fight has ever had that many swings in momentum either. Brilliant stuff. Glover being that close to defending against the odds was pretty heartbreaking too. As the fight was nearing the finish I was thinking 'this is a Hall of Fame securing win for Glover' Then he gets choked out with 30 seconds left out of nowhere, grim. I had the Strawweight fight 48-47 for Santos, that said, Valentina finished that strongly I have a hard time being bummed about it. In scoring terms I don't see how you give any of the first 3 to Valentina, but the final 2 were real strong for her so whilst that's not how scoring works I did feel Valentina proved herself to be the superior fighter on the night. Still a hell of a performance from Santos, I thought we were getting the upset. Special mention to Jake Matthews too, where the hell did that performance come from? that was his 15th UFC fight and i'd be hard pushed to recall any highlight before Saturday night then he goes out and does that. Just goes to show that you just never know with the sport, fighters can just put it all together at any stage of their career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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